For centuries, the quarries beyond the walled Tuscan village of Volterra have been mined for alabaster, a fined-grained, translucent rock that responds well to a chisel and hammer. It’s sought after to produce a dazzling array of statuettes and figurines—a wonderful assortment can be admired at the Volterra’s very own Ecomuseum of Alabaster. Perhaps most ubiquitous of all the carved creations is the alabaster grape—stones painted and polished into trompe l'oeil orbs that look good enough to eat.

You might remember these from your grandmother’s dining room table. She, along with many other design-minded folks in the ‘50s, considered the faux fruit a must-have home item, filling bowls and garnishing mantles with glossy clusters.

But lately, the literal stone fruits seem to be falling back into favor. (Even uber-cool stylist Kate Young recently ventured to Volterra to shop alabaster objets). And it’s not just grapes—there’s an entire fruit salad to be made. While apples, figs, bananas, and more are fashioned out of Italian alabaster, other materials were used elsewhere around the world. Marble was used throughout Italy, China and Japan favored jade, the Venetian island of Murano produced hand-blown versions in glass, and Mexico rendered theirs in wood. All of these have been making appearances at trendy antique stores, and some designers are taking to the centuries-old trade and producing their own modern-day grapes in ceramic and porcelain.

John Derian fills his Greenwich Village design-haven with contemporary inedibles from the UK-based ceramic maker Penkridge, and on the Lower East Side, design destination Coming Soon proffers polished marble fruits in a delightful range of powdery colors. Across the bridge in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, The Break sells vintage variations (I acquired an apple last weekend and couldn't be more thrilled), as does the nearby store Adaptations. You’ll find grapes galore across the country on Etsy and 1stdibs, and from antique dealers like San Francisco's Sue Fisher King Co. and Chicago’s Melissa Parks. But before you begin your hunt for these coveted clusters, check with your Granny—she might still have hers.

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